Popularity of Apple Stores sees mall sales rise by 10%

Apple Stores are such a popular destination for shoppers that their mere presence inside a shopping mall raises the sales at the mall by 10%, according to real estate research firm Green Street Advisors.

As the popularity of Apple Stores causes sales at nearby stores to increase, Apple uses this as bargaining power to pay extremely low rent, much lower than its neighbors. A typical non-department store in a mall would have to pay up to 15% sales per square foot in rent, but Apple manages to pay no more than 2%.

Having an Apple Store nearby also gives bargaining power to landlords, who sometimes charge tenants more for the privilege of being located near one. At other times, mall owners class an Apple Store as a department store, removing their sales from rent calculations to avoid distortion.

Despite sometimes being classed as a department store, a lot of people will visit the Apple Store and then leave. As the store doesn't promote as much cross shopping as department stores do, they don't get as good a deal on rent as the larger tenants.

On average, the Apple Store in any given shopping mall accounts for 14% of the mall's gross sales, but in some malls in New England, that figure can be closer to 33%. Meanwhile, Apple Stores only account for 12% of Apple's total yearly revenue, and collectively they receive one million visitors a day.